MOTORSPORT: Walkinshaw's high five in V8s

>> A new era of Holden domination
Garth Tander dominated the second round of the V8 Supercar Championship in a way never seen before, but the man of the series so far surely is -- love him or (if you're a Ford fan, more likely) loathe him -- Tom Walkinshaw.

The VE Holden Commodores built and prepared by Walkinshaw Performance have won all five races in the championship to date and the four drivers in the two teams -- HSV Dealer Team and Holden Racing Team -- occupy the top four spots on the points table.

The recent HRT ownership kerfuffle may have been a time-consuming distraction for others, but it hasn't bothered Walkinshaw doing what he would say Holden contracts him to do -- build winning racecars.

Walkinshaw cars filled all three podium positions in all three races in the second round at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway. West Australian Tander won all three races -– after setting the pace in practice and qualifying -- to jump from seventh to second in the championship.

Tander's success at the weekend was his first in either the Formula Ford or V8 Supercar championships at his home track.

"To win it the way we did was absolutely awesome – surreal really," Tander said. "It's right up there with [winning] Bathurst. After all those years of racing here, to finally do it is unbelievable."

The only driver ahead of Tander in the championship is his teammate, reigning champion Rick Kelly, who has 115 points to Tander's 102.

While Tander makes a compelling case to be regarded as the fastest man in the series, Kelly has proven himself a master strategist in the modern era of touring car racing -- and so far this season is the most consistent again.

His brother, Todd, turned in a brilliant drive up through the field from last to tenth in the second race at Barbagallo after brake dramas in Saturday's first 120km sprint.

While losing the series lead he had after Adelaide's Clipsal 500, the older Kelly is still third in the championship -- and 10 points ahead of his team leader and owner (although now only half-owner, as we discovered from the protracted TEGA investigations), Mark Skaife.

Barbagallo has been a good circuit for Skaife over the years and he shone there again at the weekend but dared not challenge Tander as he closed on him in the final race for fear of sparking outrage among the West Australian's home fans.

"I don't think I'd have been very popular if I'd put Garth into the sandpit," Skaife said.

While the Holden factory teams and drivers dominate the landscape at the minute, the next best Holden driver in the series is Greg Murphy in 12th place.

Ford is struggling, but it is refreshing to see the sport's oldest team, Dick Johnson Racing, enjoying a rebirth, with its Steve Johnson and Will Davison the best of the Falcon men in WA.

Indeed, Steve Johnson is now Ford's top driver of the season, ahead of James Courtney, who had two crashes at Barbagallo as a result of mysterious suspension problems in his Stone Brothers Falcon. Davison is now equal ninth in the series with superstar Craig Lowndes and hot on the heels of Lowndes' Triple Eight teammate, Jamie Whincup, and Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom.

Among the positives from the weekend was the form of a couple of veterans. Paul Radisich notched six points (under the new system that only awards points down to 15th) in his first start in Team Kiwi's ex-FPR Falcon -- and his first start since he was badly injured at Bathurst last October. And John Bowe earned himself three points in his record 213th start at a touring car round -- but only his second outing with the fledgling Paul Cruickshank Racing.
The next round is at Pukekohe in New Zealand. It is the last time the Australian V8 championship will race there, with the Kiwi round moving to a new street circuit at Hamilton in 2008.

V8 Supercar Championship after two of 14 rounds: R Kelly (Holden) 115 points; G Tander (H) 102; T Kelly (H) 85; M Skaife (H) 75; S Johnson (Ford) 74; J Courtney (F) 61; J Whincup (F) 56; M Winterbottom (F) 53; W Davison (F) 50; C Lowndes (F) 50;
Russell Ingall (F) 48; G Murphy (H) 42.

>> Brilliant start for A1's new Aussie
Sydney's Ian Dyk was on the podium in his debut race in the A1 GP series in Mexico City at the weekend.

Taking over from West Australian Karl Reindler for the third last round of the troubled series, Dyk qualified ninth for the 12-lap sprint race and was aided by some start-line chaos.

The Mexican and Brazilian cars collided, with the Brazilian then ramming the German car.

Malaysian Alex Yoong, the ex-F1 driver who was Mark Webber's Minardi teammate for much of 2002, won the race ahead of Englishman Oliver Jarvis, with Dyk 6sec behind the victor in third place.

The Australian then badly bruised an ankle as he hopped over a concrete wall and it had to be strapped for the later, 45-lap feature race -- in which he finished eighth, ahead of Christian Vietoris, the German teenager filling in for wonderboy Nico Hulkenberg who has dominated the series but was absent due to a European Formula 3 commitment.

Dyk said: "I got out of the car and crashed over the concrete barrier.

"I am able to drive fast but can't walk very well now!

"The start was certainly crazy. I had a reasonably easy run from the inside and I got by a car that went off and was not even sure who it was, but there was blue smoke and brown dust everywhere.
"I held the inside line and South Africa came from somewhere, so I followed him through and arrived in turn one safely -- so that was important."

A1 GP championship after 9 of 11 rounds: Germany 101 points; New Zealand 74; Great Britain 61; France 57; Malaysia 50. Australia is 13th on 25 points. Remaining rounds: Shanghai, China, and Brands Hatch, Britain.

>> Ambrose salvages something from nothing
Marcos Ambrose's Busch race at the short Bristol oval in Tennessee was wrecked by an early incident over which he had no control. The Aussie started only 36th and his Ford Fusion was hit when another car spun on lap 36 of the 300-lap event.

Ambrose's crew took the damaged Fusion back to the garage for repairs and he was 24 laps down when he rejoined the race.
However, he soldiered on to finish 28th (29 laps down) and earned 79 championship points to retain seventh place in NASCAR's secondary series.

"I was just trying to do the right thing, staying out of trouble, and trouble found us," Ambrose said. "It turned out to be a day to forget for the team, but we will bounce back.

"Once we were back out there we just tried to stay out of everyone's way and make sure the car got to the finish. To still be seventh in the points is something to take out of the weekend.

"It was really difficult after the incident because I was just trying to stay out of the way. You're on the bottom groove and all the marbles and you're clipping the apron all the time trying to keep out of the way and it was just a long, long day.

"You've got to roll with it. It's just the sport we're in. Not every day is going to be a great day."

Series leader Carl Edwards won the race in front of an estimated 110,000 people ahead of Ford teammate Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch.

>> Bob Jane ‘king' of the mountain
Bob Jane has been named grand marshal of the Bathurst International Motor Festival over the Easter long weekend.

>> Schumacher may be back -- as a bull
There is persistent speculation that Michael Schumacher has itchy feet already and, rather than take up the ambassadorial role Ferrari has for him, wants to run an F1 team -- perhaps Toro Rosso

The rumour has Schumi running Red Bull's second team  in partnership with Ross Brawn, the Ferrari technical whiz who is on sabbatical leave and says he's interested in a "new challenge".

Schumacher's manager, Willi Weber, reportedly has not ruled out the seven-time world champion taking over Toro Rosso, which was originally Minardi.

"It is only one thought, but I can see the sense in Michael buying out an existing operation," Weber says.

The entry has not yet been accepted, but Newey tested the car recently at Monza in Italy.

"The Ferrari is faster than anything I've raced before, but I enjoyed it," Newey told Britain's Motorsport News.

"I injured my Achilles a couple of years ago and need to do a bit of work to build that up to cope with the braking, but otherwise I had no problems."

Newey might change his mind about driving at Le Mans if he has a word to Webber, who could easily have lost his life there when his Mercedes racer twice jumped the fence at more than 300kmh.

>> Well done, Dan Wheldon
British driver Dan Wheldon became the first driver in the 12-year history of the Indy Racing League to win at the same racetrack three years in a row in dominating this season's opening race, under the lights at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.

Wheldon led all but 21 laps in beating his Ganassi Racing teammate, New Zealander Scott Dixon, the 2003 IRL champion by 6.4993sec --  about a quarter of a lap but the biggest margin of victory in the IRL in two years.

Third was reigning series and Indy 500 champion Sam Hornish Junior.

Wheldon won the 500 and the IRL title in 2005.

"I'm all about the Indianapolis 500 -- nothing else matters to me. But to get three consecutive wins on the same speedway is a big deal, too," Wheldon says.

It was a tough weekend for the revamped Andretti Green Racing, with Tony Kanaan its only driver not to run into problems.

Marco Andretti, last year's top rookie, finished last after his Andretti Green car had a mystery mechanical problem.

"I've never been so scared in my life in an IndyCar," says 20-year-old Andretti, who did two F1 tests with Honda in the off-season but wants to stay another two years in America.

The IRL moves to the road course at St. Petersburg, also in Florida, next Sunday for the second of 17 races.

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